Blog's & Such That I Adore

Freebie Alert:

Saturday, December 15, 2012

An Indecent Proposal...with Mia Marlowe (+Giveaway)

An Indecent Proposalon Christmas Eve with Mia Marlowe

About the Author:

Award winning author Mia Marlowe writes historical romance for Kensington Publishing and Sourcebooks. Her debut title received acclaim from romance luminaries. #1 New York Times bestseller Victoria Alexander says Mia's Touch of a Thief has "adventure and heat and everything I want in a great story!" UK's BooksMonthly has crowned Mia Marlowe "the queen of saucy historical romance."Mia learned much of what she knows about storytelling from singing. A classically trained soprano, she won the District Metropolitan Opera Auditions and shared a stage with Placido Domingo. As she prepared for operatic roles, she devised back stories for her characters. Since she's worn a real corset, and had to sing high C's in one, she empathizes with the trials of her fictional heroines. But in Mia's stories, they don't die in a Parisian garret. They get to live and keep the hero!

Readers often ask me what happens to my characters after their book has ended. In the case of HOW TO PLEASE A PIRATE, I can offer a small peek into the lives of Jacquelyn and Gabriel Drake and what sort of adventures they enjoy after the main story is over. Come with me now and I’ll whisk you back to Cornwall for. . . - Mia

A Dragon Caern Christmas

by Mia Marlowe

“One ball is hanging low.” Jacquelyn Drake cocked her head and narrowed her eyes at her husband.

“That, my love, is the condition of most men.” Gabriel glanced over his shoulder and waggled his dark brows at her. “But how you can tell from there is a mystery.”

She swatted his well-muscled derrière. “I mean the spice balls on the kissing bough. The left one is lower than the right. See if you can tie it up higher.”

Gabriel stretched to reach the kissing bough he’d just hung from the arched center of the solar’s ceiling. He hiked the clove-encrusted suet ball a few finger-widths higher. The spicy fragrance mingled with the fresh evergreens in the bough.

“Any particular reason they have to match?”

“Because it will please me if they do.” Jacquelyn waggled her brows back at him and stepped close to wrap her arms around his waist. “And I’m sure you want to please me.”

“It’s what I live for,” he assured her. Gabriel couldn’t reciprocate with an embrace while he tied up her Christmas folderol, but he bent to kiss her anyway. His lips covered hers

“Ow!” He broke off their kiss and shook his hand, blowing on his fingertips. “That holly is prickly.”

“That’s because it represents men,” Jacquelyn explained as she took his injured hand and kissed each finger tip, pausing to suck the one with the angry red mark. She smiled when Gabriel’s breathing hitched a bit. “Holly for men, ivy for women and mistletoe for—”

“Trust me, love. I know what mistletoe is for.” Gabriel pulled her close for a demonstration that had her gasping for air and not wanting to come up for it at the same time. He tasted of the mulled wine they’d shared earlier and his kiss sent an intoxicating sizzle through her veins. When his hands slipped over the curve of her breasts, heat spread down her body. Jacquelyn wondered if there was time to hoist her skirts for a quick—

“Ow!” Jacquelyn jerked back and rubbed her crown. The spice ball had come untied, landed on her noggin, bounced to the floor and wobbled across the flagstone to a lopsided stop. “I thought sailors were supposed to be handy with knots.”

“Sailors, aye. None handier.” Gabriel grinned sheepishly as he bent to scoop up the offending ornament. “But pirates are known to play fast and loose with the rules from time to time and I may have skipped a step with that last knot.” He pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head. “You have to admit, I was being distracted.”

“Well, I’ll not distract you this time.” She crossed her arms under her breasts.

“Lyn, you distract me just by breathing.”

Her insides melted when Gabriel used his special name for her. “You know, you’re supposed to pluck a mistletoe berry each time you steal a kiss,” she said. “When they’re gone, the free kisses are ended.”

How about you? Do you wonder about the lives of fictional couples who’ve already been given their HEA? Would like to know how they’re doing? Have you ever written any fan fiction to keep characters you love alive?

Leave a comment or question for me and you’ll be entered in the random drawing for my Christmas enovella, MY LADY BELOW STAIRS! Two winners will be chosen.

Available Now:

Nobody misses Lord & Lady Hartwell's Christmas Ball, . . . but they all go for different reasons. When Lady Sybil runs off with an Italian portrait painter, her bastard half-sister Jane Tate goes in her place. Lord Eddleton plans on proposing to "Sybil" under the mistletoe. Lady Darvish is on the hunt for her fifth husband.. And Ian Michael MacGarrett, the head groom with more than horseflesh on his mind, is determined to show Jane that love doesn't have to pretend.

Mia is giving away two ecopies of her book, My Lady Below Stairs, to one lucky commenter (Open to all with ereader/program access)! Make sure to leave a meaningful comment/answer her question above AND fill out the rafflecopter!a Rafflecopter giveaway

LOL, I just loved the first line of your short story, definitely an attention grabber.

I have not read How To Please A Pirate, yet, because I've been engrossed with your recent series. I've read Touch of A Thief and Touch of A Scoundrel, and in my hot little hands right now is Touch of A Rogue but I'll have to wait until next week when the kids are out of school to start reading. Can't wait. I've really enjoyed this series, and as to your question. I often wish for authors to include epilogues to their novels. To find these beloved characters finding happiness and starting families warms this readers romantic heart.

OMG! Can you hear me cackling? I had to read the "one ball hanging low" to my husband. What a hoot!

I have been left with a lovely warm fuzzy feeling after reading some novels where the HEA was just perfect. I haven't written any fan fiction to keep them alive, however, I do find that it's great when a series adds this couple in the follow-on novels. Even if they're just in the background, it's nice knowing that you are familiar with their story.

Hi Beebs. Since HOW TO PLEASE A PIRATE and HOW THE VEX THE VISCOUNT are connected books, even though there's about 10 years between them, it made sense to write a little of what happened in that middle period.

So glad you enjoyed my short story, Joanne. Once I put up a story on my blog in serial form and invited readers to suggest where the story should go next. The result was A DUKE FOR ALL SEASONS. If I get enough time, I may try it again. It was fun getting reader feedback.

I always wonder about the characters that have been given their HEA, I think it's wonderful when authors mention them in their other series, cause then it feels more involved and you'll be able to see what they are up to now :DThanks for the giveaway, enjoy your holidays!

Thanks, Ann. I was recovering from cancer surgery when I wrote MY LADY BELOW STAIRS and I don't know if it was the pain meds or what, but my editor thought it was the funniest thing I'd written. (I'm at 4 years cancer free and counting now! Thank you, God.)

I always like to find out how characters are doing after their HEA's, I love epilogues that fill you in as well as learning about them through out the series. That's why I prefer to reading series more often than novels.

I enjoy knowing a little about the characters that have already had their HEA however don't want a story about it. I just imagine they have just that with normal life happenings. Love your books by the way and Happy Holidays. Lori

I do wonder about the lives of the couples I've read about after their HEA, that's why series are so fun that have characters from earlier books appear in later stories - we get to see how those favorite characters are doing. I've never written fan fiction, I leave the writing to the authors I enjoy. D

Thanks Mia, I loved it. There's nothing more heartwarming then to reconnect with characters I have grown fond of through their stories. It's like meeting up with old friends and family.I love all your books. Your Heroes and Heroines always end up i my hart after the story ends.Happy Holidays.Don't enter me for the e-books as I can't read them on this computer. I loved My Lady Below Stairs.Carol LLucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

Thanks, Carol. When it was first published in 2010, MY LADY BELOW STAIRS was part of an anthology called A CHRISTMAS BALL with Jennifer Ashley and Alissa Johnson. It's out of print, so I'm glad it's available as an enovella now.

Sometimes I would like to know, if not told at the end of the book ....did they had any children?...what happens to other members of their families?...did they travel?..did they both live to a ripe old age? any grandchildren?...etc.,etc.

You know that actually might be good fodder for some blog posts sometime. I could write a "Christmas letter" from my heroes and heroines, catching their friends up on everything that's happened since the end of the book.

I love Mia's books. No I haven't written any fan fiction after I've read a book, even though I have wondered why goes on with the characters after their book ends. Like at Christmas, or Mardi Gras or some other occasion.

I've talked to other authors about fan fiction and the opinion is fairly split down the middle. Some don't want anyone messing with characters they have created. Others, like me, believe our readers bring something to our books and once we launch characters on the world, they are like real children. We can't control them forever.

Love historicals and I love how there are secondary characters/couples pursuing "love" (very Pride and Prejudice)! I do wonder sometimes what happens after the happily-ever-after which is probably why I'm fond of epilogues! I just never want a good book to end...and if it's truly HEA then it doesn't!ivegotmail8889(at)yahoo(dot)com

I do sometimes wonder what happens to them beyond the HEA, sometimes even beyond the epilogue, or I really want to know what happens to other characters who were interesting. Haven't written any fan fiction about it, except, sometimes, in my head!

Sometimes, a secondary character just screams for their own story. That's how Daisy got hers in HOW TO VEX A VISCOUNT. Even as a child in HOW TO PLEASE A PIRATE, I knew she'd grow into an interesting heroine.

Mia, everyone loves the opening lines of your excerpt. What an attention grabber!

There have been several books where i'd loved the characters so much & they were so absolutely amazing that i would have loved a sequel of their life after the HEA. Kristin Callihan's Firelight for one. I would have loved another story featuring Miranda & Archer.

I suppose there ought to be a caveat that says "Open to any place where the winner can accept a Kindle or Nook ebook" because that's what this is. I do appreciate my international readers very much and just this week received copies of TOUCH OF A THIEF in Japanese!

I have so many couple characters that I wonder about and love seeing them in brief stints when they reappear in a series. You had me cracking up with your short. I fell in love with Jacob and Julianne in A Touch Of A Rogue and look forward to reading more by you.

I am not sure this is where you put the comments for the Grand Prize so here goes. I have never seen to many great authors on one blog. This blog is superb. You have EXACTLY what I love to read: historical romance!

Please enter me in the grand prize giveaway and HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a ROMANTIC NEW YEAR!!